Summers Heart
by Nightris
Summary: Part 1 Traveling brings many new days and nights as well as new happenings. Ginko stumbles upon a man who's sister...hasn't been herself lately. Is this man willing to do whatever it takes to help her? Or will his own selfishness bring both of them down.
1. Chapter 1

_Intro_

In the summer and along the deep slope of the mountains, humans merrily venture off into the dense forests to collect edible greens and fungi. Some do this without noticing anything strange lingering within the tree beds or resting within the shadows. A selected few take sight to these odd creatures and either run away or become very intrigued by them and meddle with their resting places, allowing those who are called Mushi Masters to never be out of work.

_Summer's Heart._

A passing breeze gathered the crisp scent of summer morning, brushing against the luscious trees. A lone traveller who went by the name of Ginko walked calmly beneath these trees, enjoying their shade from the hot sun. While enjoying this and the nature around him, he took noticed to the plentiful greens that overun the forest floor.

"I know it's that time of year, but even the last village's forests didn't have _this_ much supply," he paused for a moment, staring down at the greens, "could it be that...no, I'm getting ahead of myself. Though it _is_ odd."

He tried pushing his convictions aside, knowing that he mustn't blame the mushi for something like that, seeing how it is a rare blessing to have that much supply.

Ginko continued on his way down the mountains path until he stumbled upon a lone cottage that was placed on the edge of a slope. Not being able to find a good pit stop for awhile, he considered it an oppertunity to ask for a meal and a good night's rest. He respectfully approached and knocked on the door several times, hoping to have an answer.

"Yes?" responded a man, "Who's out there?"

A wave of relief rushed over Ginko as he asked, "I justed wanted to know if I could stay the night here, I've been traveling for quite some time now and haven't gotten a good night's rest. May I come in?" There wasn't any type of nervousness or suspicious tone to his voice, so the man kindly opened the door, and peered up at Ginko. "Yes, you may come in." he answered with a smile.

"So, what's your name?" The young man asked, setting down his bowl of noodles. The two sat quietly at the dinner table for a long time before anyone had said anything, be it from eating or just simply not knowing each other enough to start a conversation.

"Ginko, I'm a travelling mushi master." Ginko responded, sipping the broth out of his bowl.

"A mushi master?" The young man repeated, questionable about Ginko's profession.

"Yes, I specialize in helping people with anything involving mushi. May I ask what your name is?" Ginko questioned.

"Oh! how rude of me, my name's Shoru. Me and my sister Ai live here together." Shoru answered, embarrassed he never said anything before hand. Suddenly a rush of sadness draped itself over his shoulders.

"My sister...she's been...not herself lately." he whispered, his eyes portraying hardship and worry.

Ginko sat glancing at Shoru, thoughts running through his mind as to what he could be meaning.

"Is your sister not well?" he asked, removing his usual brand of cig away from his lips.

"In a way, yes. She's suddenly grown very depressed, it's almost like theres nothig left of her but pure sadness. She sleeps most of the time and when she's awake she usually cries or simply doesn't have the energy to do anything. She came back from the mountains one day like that and I have no idea why she's the way she is. It doesn't make any sense." Shoru informed, feeling worse than before. It was one thing that he didn't know why his sister was upset, but to not be sure of what may help her or get her out of this state was something he couldn't bare living with. The room fell silent as both Ginko and Shoru didn't say anything, one would call it an awkward moment.

"Please...you said something about being a mushi master," a quiver rose in his delicate, almost fragile tone of voice as he fought to hold back tears, "...do you think that has anything at all to do with my sister?" he asked, having no other option at hand.

Ginko let out a puff of smoke, gathering all of the symptoms and causes to see if it was related to _anything_. A moment passed before anything was spoken. Swiftly, Ginko answered with a reasonable answer, "It could most likely be a mushi called, Akanashi. It tends to mess with people's emotions, and in this case the type is a Shinzokuroi. Shinzokuroi take the hosts good emotions like happiness, excitement, the feeling of being active, ambition and comfort leaving nothing but the bad emotions behind. They survive and spawn that way. A lot of humans call it depression and it _is_ rare if a Shinzokuroi is involved but either way, the host suffers. If the Shinzokuroi takes all of her good emotions away, then she'll stay the way she is forever. Tell me, has your sister ever mentioned about seeing odd things?" Ginko explained his accusation quite throughly, not even missing a beat.

Shoru tried his hardest to take it all in, it was all so much all too quick. His sister was being taken over by this thing and he didn't even realize it, he hasn't seen or heard about anything like it so how in the world could he help. Eventually he snapped out of his hazed thoughts and brought his attention back up to Ginko.

"No, she hasn't. I don't even think she knows what it is thats inside of her." he answered, worried as ever burrowing his face within his palms.

"Don't worry, niether of you saw it coming, so don't blame it on yourself. Anyway, it's a good thing that your sister doesn't know about it. Some people get frightened by mushi, especially ones that have taken over someone. We don't want to startle her into doing something rash." Ginko warned, inhaling and exhaling a puff of smoke. Shoru sat over his half eaten food, tears falling down his cheeks, he couldn't help at all. His sister was all he had left of his family, he didn't want her to suffer like this anymore. What could he do!?

"I think I know a way to prevent this from happening, but I may have to stay here longer than expected." Ginko regreted.

"Please...tell me...what can I do?" Shoru pleaded, willingly to do anything to save his sister.

"We need to find a Shinzoshiro...."

To be continued...


	2. Chapter 2

Last chapter summarization:

Ginko, after weeks of traveling, spots a small cottage on the slope of a steep mountain. As he descended further down the mountain to reach the cottage, he noticed that the mountains plentiful herbs and edible plants practically overflowed the entire forest floors. Such a blessing was rare, especially because of the season. Ginko brushed it off; not wanting to think that mushi could be the cause. He was welcomed in the cottage by a young man named Shoru who lives there with his mentally ill sister, Ai. Ginko soon finds out that Ai never use to be so depressed, disturbed or unenergetic and that she only became this way when she returned from the mountain one day. Shoru, desperate, asks Ginko to help him find out what is wrong. Ginko then tells him that his sister could be most likely be infected with an Akanashi, specifically a Shinzokuroi, a mushi that feeds off of good emotions, leaving behind nothing but the bad. Ginko thinks of a solution, but it may involve dangering Shoru and Ai's life.

Summers Heart, Chap. 2

"A…A shinzoshiro?" Shoru repeated, curious yet regretting the very word.

Ginko gave a single nod, resting his arm atop his knee as he sat casually on the ground, allowing his cig to burn away between his fingers.

"It's another kind of Akanashi, it's the Shinzokuroi's opposite. This specific one feeds off of your bad emotions, leaving behind nothing but the good. Now I know how relieving that may sound, but it's a great inconvenience. No matter what the situation, you'll be happy. Say for instance your sister was to die, you'd never feel any grief or sadness, and you'd be content. Usually, grief is the sign that you care so others might get the wrong idea."

Shoru sat completely lost. He knew what Ginko just said, but he hadn't much of a satisfying clue as to what it meant. Were they supposed to go out and find this thing Ginko called 'mushi'? If so, what would they do with it? Inject it in his sister?

"Ginko…" Shoru murmured in a quiet, broken tone.

Ginko raised his head, "…?"

"What…are we going to do with the Shinzoshiro?" he asked, fearing the mushi masters response.

Ginko removed his eyes from Shoru's, bringing the cig up to his mouth, regretting the words that were about to be said.

"Well…I need to find out where they are first before we can do anything. From there, I'll need you to allow the Shinzoshiro to infect your body."

Shuro's face was filled with anxiety and he felt his heart sink as his eyes focused entirely on Ginko who continued to smoke his cig as if what he said wasn't absolutely frightening, probably because to Ginko, it was just business.

"I-Infect…m-my body? Is that safe?" Shoru asked.

Ginko let out a light gruff, not sure how to answer that lightly.

"I can tell you right now that I'm not sure how your body will react. It might only effect you by a little or fully affect you right on the spot. Seeing how the shinzoshiro will be at its weakest state when it infects you though, I doubt anything serious will happen. Your sister is too far long in the infection process so that's why she's reacting so drastically to it. I have a feeling if you become infected and I allow the both of you to meet face to face, the Akanashies will notice each other and decide to extract themselves from the both of you because of the emotional attractions towards the two. I believe from there they'll create a massive ball of conflicting energy. During that entire process, you and your sister might go through a dramatic emotional change which can become extremely dangerous."

Shoru's shoulders slumped, utterly beaten down by all that was being said as well as everything that was to come. How else was he going to react to it? It was all happening so fast and everything to him at this point was so uncertain that he found himself becoming utterly selfish over the fear of his own well being. Would this affect him for the rest of his life? Would he be able to risk so much of his life for something he's not even sure will work? We're talking about _willingly_ allowing this thing that's cousin has been drastically affecting his sister into his own body.

It was then Ai came bursting into the dining room and wrapped her arms around her brother, sobbing.

"No, Shoru! Please, you don't have to do this! I don't want you to have to suffer too! Not for my pitiful sake! Please!" she pleaded and pleaded and pleaded, begging her brother not to danger himself so drastically. She had been listening to the entire conversation the whole time.

Shoru was entirely taken aback to his sister's sudden entry. His hands hovered hesitantly in mid air over her shoulders, still in a bit of shock. Thankfully though, it didn't take him long to gently wrap his arms around his younger sister's shoulders in a supportive embrace.

Tears streamed down his face, he could feel her pain.

"I-….I'll do it. I'll help you get better Ai. I'll be the big brother that father wanted me to be and help you through this. Okay?"

Ai clenched the sleeves of his kosode with her eyes shut tightly, pouring tear after tear down her cheeks. What no one noticed was that she had a knife hidden carefully beneath her kimono.

She drastically pushed herself away from her brother with the knife in hand, surprising both Shoru and Ginko.

"A-ai!" both of the men exclaimed.

" I'll kill myself! I'd rather be dead than have to see you get hurt!" she shouted, readying to stab herself in the chest.

"Ai, no don't do it! Nothing will be accomplished if you give up right here and now! I would rather get hurt than see you dead! Stop it!" he yelled, causing his voice to crack.

Ai stood there at a standstill, the knife hovering over her chest. Sweat fell down her temple and Shoru felt his hands clamming up. Ginko found himself completely stuck. He tried wondering if he had the right or not to intervene and what would be the consequences if he did. All he could do was wait for something to happen.

Ai at that point dropped the knife, collapsing to the ground and burying her face into her palms. She cried so hard that it was hard for her to speak clearly.

"I…have…no idea…what's happening to me!" she gasped, Shoru now at her side.

Ginko sighed, finding out that she was worse than he thought.

"She's not getting any better Shoru. At this rate she won't last. This Shinzokuroi is much worse than I suspected. It's strong enough to escape her body. It's trying to do so by destroying the host. We don't have much time left till it has entirely warped her thought process."

With that said, Ginko now awaited for Shoru's response, hoping he'd give him the right response.

"Ginko?" Shoru questioned after a moment.

"Yes?"

"I'm going to help my sister. I'll help her no matter what it takes…."

Ginko huffed out a cloud of smoke, "So….your saying you're willing to allow the Shinzoshiro to infect you?"

The room grew dead silent for the longest moment in time. Only after a few passing moments did Shoru actually say anything.

"Yes….I'm willing to allow the shinzoshiro to infect me. If it will save my sister, then I'll do it." He said, his voice quiver despite his strong words.

Ginko puffed out another cloud of smoke.

"Very well, I'll start searching…"


End file.
